Many in Ashby rush to comfort family of mother, son killed in Route 31 accident

Monday

Feb 18, 2013 at 6:00 AMFeb 18, 2013 at 11:42 PM

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Friends and family of Ashby Firefighter Michelle “Shelli” B. Martens and her 16-year-son, Justin J. Fournier — victims of a fatal accident Sunday morning — learned that the closeness of the small volunteer Fire Department extended well beyond the boundaries of Ashby.

The other vehicle in the crash was driven by Ashby Firefighter Wayne F. Patenaude, who remained hospitalized Monday in stable condition.

Ms. Martens, 36, was a single mother of two and a third-generation volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician for the Ashby Fire Department.

Her Kia Sportage crossed into the path of a pickup truck and crashed Sunday morning, killing her and her 16-year-old son, near 1191 Ashby Road (Route 31) in Fitchburg around 10:30 a.m.

The driver of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup they collided with has served as on the Ashby Fire Department for 15 years. Mr. Patenaude, 54, from Ashby, was at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester Monday awaiting surgery on his right heel, which was crushed in the accident, Ashby Fire Chief William T. Seymour Jr. said. Mr. Patenaude's arm was also injured, the chief said.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.'s office said the cause is still under investigation.

Ms. Martens' parents — retired Ashby Assistant Fire Chief Walter Hansen and Teresa “Terry” Hansen — were doing their best to keep their daughter's youngest child and their only granddaughter, Jasmine R. Martens, busy and shielded from the press, they said.

At the Hansens' home on Erickson Road on Monday, friends, family and area firefighters and police dropped in and called throughout the day to offer their condolences and support for the loss of the oldest of the Hansens' two daughters and only grandson.

The Hansens said they will raise their granddaughter now. They will also raise “grandpup” Clyde II, a one-year-old dog their daughter adopted, with their own pooch Salti.

“She seems to be coping,” Mr. Hansen said of his 12-year-old granddaughter, a sixth-grader at Hawthorne Brook Middle School in Townsend. School officials, her grandmother said, stopped by to see how the family was doing and said they would make counseling available to Jasmine.

“We've kept her very busy with children and family and friends,” Mrs. Hansen said. “Our plan is to raise her. She is like her mom in so many ways. If you put pictures of them when they were 2-years-old side-by-side, they look identical. She's the spitting image of her mom.”

The two also shared similar interests, they said, including a love for the arts — music, theater and drawing. Jasmine is also a cheerleader.

Mr. Hansen said it wouldn't surprise him if Jasmine also joined the Fire Department like he, his father, the late Thomas Hansen, and their only other child, Kathy M. Mead, 32, who now works as a chef at Wellesley College, did. Thomas Hansen was on the department for more than 50 years and also retired as volunteer assistant chief, Mr. Hansen said.

“It wouldn't surprise me — it's in the blood,” he said. “It is just something that develops with you. For me, it developed as a child the same as it did for Shelli. You hear sirens and the alarms on your pager and it wakes something up inside — you have to go and take care of something. It has always been that way as far as I can remember.”

“You have to rescue the world,” Mrs. Hansen added, about her husband's dedication to the department, while looking into his blue eyes that were inherited by his daughter and granddaughter.

Ms. Martens had just moved to a rental home on the Ashby-Ashburnham line about three months ago, they said, and was recently laid off by Comcast.

They said she was a typical teenager who grew into a free-spirited artist, and worked for a time in sales and as a dental assistant.

“She just wanted to try and do everything that there was to do,” he said. “She didn't have fear of trying anything. She was a smart girl.”

According to her parents, she was in the middle of writing two books and was also a romance columnist and artist. One of her poems, they said, was published.

“She didn't like to live within boundaries — she was her own person and a free spirit,” Mr. Hansen said.

Justin, they said, loved playing basketball in the town league and wanted to follow in his mother's and grandfather's footsteps. He signed up to join the Fire Department after turning 16, they said.

“He grew up around the fire station,” Mr. Hansen said of the North Middlesex Regional High School junior. “I would take him to climb on the trucks. He wanted to help the world.”

He said his grandson also loved his dirt bikes and wanted to become a mechanic.

“We've had an incredible amount of support from the fire and police departments in town, family and friends and the Fitchburg Police Department,” Mr. Hansen said. “Fitchburg police have asked us many times if we need anything or help with anything and answered questions on how to do things and offered grief counseling. They've just been fantastic.”

At Ashby's Fire Department, the chief and several firefighters at the station Monday night were grappling with the loss of two firefighters and another getting injured.

“It is hard to believe,” Chief Seymour said. “It is pretty devastating. By the time you finally sit down and relax a little bit, it seems like a nightmare. Most of us grew up with Michelle's father who was on the department.”

Ms. Martens and her family are well-respected in the community, he said. He said the town and Fire Department — with only two full-time positions including the chief's and the other 43 all volunteers — are mourning the loss.

“The Fire Department is one big family and this tragedy has showed us the fire service is also one big family,” Chief Seymour said. “All the other surrounding departments are reaching out and offering us any help and support they can. Not much happens here and it is tough when it does.”